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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26242957">from the bed to the floor</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissELY/pseuds/MissELY'>MissELY</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Harry Potter is bad with emotions, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Praise Kink, Rough Oral Sex</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:48:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,510</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26242957</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissELY/pseuds/MissELY</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermione Granger has a list. It is a very secret list that she would be horrified if someone in her life found, especially if that someone was her best friend, roommate, and long term crush, Harry Potter.</p><p>So obviously, Harry finds the list.</p><p>Instead of being horrified, he's horribly turned on, and after a little prodding by a mutual friend, he decided to help her check some items off of that list. Out of the goodness of his heart. Of course.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hermione Granger/Harry Potter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>63</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>683</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Prompt Bank Garage Sale</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">



        <li>In response to a prompt by
            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarmonyandCo/pseuds/HarmonyandCo">HarmonyandCo</a>  in the  <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/collections/PromptBankGarageSale">PromptBankGarageSale</a>
          collection.
        </li>
    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Prompt from  <a href="http://keiramarcos.com/">Keira Marcos</a> on the Prompt Bank Garage Sale:</p><p>Harry and Hermione are roommates after the war, one night he comes home from work and finds a list on the kitchen table. It’s a sex bucket list and first he teases her about it and then he offers to help her check some items off that list.</p><p>Title inspired by What's Your Fantasy by Ludacris</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Harry had stayed too late at work. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione had told him—more than once, if he was honest—that he needed to stop working so much. He knew that if Hermione was telling him he was overworking himself, then it must be true.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He dragged his feet as he made his way up the stairs into 12 Grimmauld Place. He didn’t want to see the disappointed look on Hermione’s face as he pulled himself in past midnight for the third day this week so far. It was Wednesday.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Raking his hand through his already unruly hair, he padded as softly as he could through the entryway and down the stairs to the kitchen, hoping to grab something to eat before falling into bed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The kitchen was empty, a single candle burning on the table made a plate of food throw dramatic shadows on the worn down table. A warm feeling in his chest settled into his bones, and he smiled. Hermione always left him a plate when he worked later than he did. Today it looked like she had picked up his favorite takeaway. Just as well, she was rubbish at cooking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He ate quickly and quietly. He was bone tired and wanted to eat and then climb directly in bed. He put his dishes in the sink and then hesitated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It looked like Hermione had forgotten to pick up her papers when she went to bed. She often got lost in her studying and researching, and was bad about keeping her notes together and organized. He could tidy up after her a little, Merlin knew that she had done it for him often enough.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a book open and several pieces of parchment that had her distinctive scrawl. He carefully marked her page before closing the book. Hermione would have killed him if he hadn’t learned to take proper care of her books by now. After twelve years of friendship and five years as roommates, she had him well trained.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He began arranging the papers into some sort of order, so that when she came down for breakfast she’d be able to find what she was looking for. Notes regarding the book she was reading went in one pile, a to do list and grocery list went in another, a note with ideas for improving Pepper-Up potion went in a third. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He reached for the last slip of parchment. Unlike the others, it was folded, and the paper was soft from repeated touch, the edges looked a little worn, as if Hermione had kept it in a pocket, taking it in and out repeatedly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Unfolding it, he read the top line and then had to do it again three more times because of the shock.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Sex Acts To Try</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>He sat down heavily in the chair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s not that he didn’t think Hermione was a sexual creature. Living together for five years had meant that he’d had a front row seat to almost all of her failed relationships over the last five years. Though to be honest, there hadn’t been that many. Ron, Roger Davies, Susan Bones, and a brief fling with Draco Malfoy that she’d done her best to hide from him. It had been a useless effort on her part, given that Draco had drunkenly confessed to him the very next day, at Draco and his standing night out. Turned out the Ferret made a good friend when he wasn’t being threatened by a madman holding his family hostage.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But this list.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This list.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He ran a hand over his chin, feeling the stubble there as his eyes scanned up and down the list over and again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There were positions, kinks, and acts listed, annotated with what source she had heard of them from and what appealed to her about them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was hot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Really, really hot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He reached down, adjusting the erection in his pants that had come to life as he reviewed the list.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With no small amount of lust, curiosity, interest, something, that he noted that her interests and hers overlapped significantly. She wanted to be taken from behind, to deepthroat and choke on a cock, to be spanked, restrained, have multiple orgasms, sit on someone’s face, the list went on and on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Some of the items had checkmarks next to them with a date and a last name. Harry didn’t dwell on why that made something low and furious twist in his stomach.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But most of the items on the list hadn’t been touched, and the list was dated nearly three years ago, and the item most recently checked off was “reverse cowgirl”, with a date that corresponded to her brief fling with Draco and his name next to it. Apparently it had been just "okay." Harry wondered if it would be too over the line to tease Draco on his mediocre performance.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He smoothed out the list, laying it on top of the closed book. He could pretend he hadn’t seen it, just leave it folded up in one of the piles and never talk or think about it ever. But the impulsive, reckless side in him—the side that had made him pull a Wronski Feint in front of a dragon, the side that hadn’t been beaten out of him even after a war and five years as an Auror—wasn’t going to do that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No, he thought as he ran a hand over the list once more, still keenly aware of the way his blood was humming, no, he would definitely be bringing it up.</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hermione woke a minute before her alarm, feeling groggy and out of sorts. Harry hadn’t gotten back until late the night before, and she always had a hard time sleeping when he was out of the house. She attributed it to years of fussing over and worrying about him first during school, then the war, then every time he was out on assignment for the Aurors. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>To add to that, she couldn’t for the life of her figure out what was going wrong with her experiments. She was an expert in the field of Potions-Spell hybridization, and the foremost authority on the incorporation of Charms into brewing techniques. However, her most recent results were leaving even her stumped. She had given up before midnight the night before, finally throwing her hands up in frustration and stomping up the stairs in search of a long bath and a good book.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes and sighed heavily. This wasn’t going to be a good day, she could already tell.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Throwing on a robe and slippers she made her way downstairs, grateful that she could already hear Harry making breakfast in the kitchen. That meant both that he hadn’t already returned to work, and that she didn’t have to subsist on slightly burned toast and tea for breakfast. Strangely her potions expertise had never translated into any talent in the kitchen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sight of him at the stove—so domestic, with his wide shoulders and bed head—made her heart turn over and longing shoot straight through from her chest to her stomach, making it ache. She pressed those feelings down into the box where she kept them, out of the way so that she could have a normal relationship with her best friend, just like she’d been doing for years. It sucked, it absolutely sucked, but the price was worth it to keep Harry. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was an odd sensation in the back of her brain as she entered the kitchen, not quite dread, not quite anxiety, but something.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Morning,” she said, pulling her hair into a loose bun at the back of her neck. Her wild curls barely cooperated, and even as she brought her hands down, a curl slipped out. She ignored it with a frustrated huff. “You got in late last night.” She was unable to keep the accusation out of her voice</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good morning,” Harry’s tone was oddly amused, and it made Hermione narrow her eyes in suspicion.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her intuition that this was a no good, very bad day was confirmed as soon as she sat down in her customary place at the kitchen table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There, on the top of the book that she had been reviewing last night, was a piece of parchment that had seen better days, creased and slightly off color. She recognized it immediately. It had been a list that normally was kept in the back of her planner, but she’d taken it out last night at some point, and now it was here, out in the open, and Harry must have seen it. This must be why his good morning had sounded teasing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her eyes pingpongged between Harry’s back as he stood at the stove, and the list.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Never in her life had she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole more than in this moment right now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So,” Harry said from his place in front of the hob, his tone conversational, “Susan Bones poured hot wax on you, huh?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She swallowed hard and tried again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Harry—” she stopped there. Her face was hot and it felt like her heart was trembling in her chest. It was impossible to pinpoint if this feeling was embarrassment or anxiety or something else entirely. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hermione,” Harry turned, a towel thrown over his shoulder, a wide smile breaking across his face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She snatched up the note, flustered and her fingers shaking, folding it back up and shoving it in the pocket of her robe clumsily. “Harry, I’m sorry I left it out, I—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry waved a hand, laughing breathlessly, the other hand going to the back of a chair. “Your face right now Hermione!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She glared at him, her hands going to her cheeks in a futile attempt to press down the ferocious blush she was sure was on her face. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but there weren't any words in her brain in that moment. It was a decidedly odd experience for her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry about it,” Harry said, shaking his head and turning back to the stove, “thought some of those things on that list,” he gave a low whistle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s perfectly normal and healthy for an adult woman—” her voice was high and prissy and she cut herself off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hermione, you’ve got to admit, if you found my list you’d tease me too.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry laughed again. She felt herself smile reluctantly in response. She couldn’t say mad, embarrassed, whatever she was, while Harry looked so joyful.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, yes.” She pushed aside the neatly arranged piles of notes and her book, a flash of gratitude for Harry making her give him a fond look.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry put a plate in front of her and joined her at the table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So,” Hermione said, desperately trying to grasp on to a conversation about something else, “you got in late last night.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His shoulders dropped slightly and the smile slid off of his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, he said, pushing the eggs on his plate around with the back of his fork, “I had to review the details of my last case in the field. The one with the kids.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, Harry,” she reached over to place a hand on top of his. He turned his hand and laced their fingers together. He had accepted a promotion to Head Auror just a few weeks ago, but his last case as a field Auror had left him bruised and battered, inside and out. Cases with kids were always the worst.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She squeezed his hand and he gave her a strained smile. “It’s fine, just preparing for the trial. I had a late meeting and then organized my investigation notes. It just took a long time, but after this week I should be done.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good,” she nodded firmly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What about you? Don’t think I didn’t notice you wrote so hard on some of your notes that your quill punched through the paper.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She rolled her eyes. “Just a silly research problem.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry shook his head and picked up his fork with a free hand. “It’s not silly if it made you so angry. Tell me about it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She smiled at him. She was so lucky that he had learned to tolerate her more swotty tendencies, just as she’d learned to enjoy watching his pickup Quidditch matches he played with other Aurors.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s just that the Bicorn horn in Pepper-Up potion should be the perfect medium to add a more basic healing charm that would enhance the potion, but it won’t stick for some reason. The same method has worked well in other similar potions, but for some reason it’s not working here. I was just brushing up last night on the theory to try to see if there was something I was doing wrong, or missing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Any luck?” He asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione picked up her fork and continued to eat. It was delicious as always.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not really, but I have more research to do.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They finished breakfast, continuing to chat about the upcoming work day for both of them. Hermione split her time between her labs just outside of Diagon Alley and 12 Grimmauld Place. It was pleasant, familiar, and it made the embarrassment at Harry finding her list recede ever so slightly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She didn’t notice until they finished that he hadn’t let go of her hand.</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Harry couldn’t stop thinking about the list.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His day was light, a welcome respite after the heaviness he’d had yesterday. But a light day meant that every few minutes or so his mind would wander back to the list, back to imagining Hermione doing all the things. Imagining doing them to her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t as if he hadn’t fantasized about his best friend before. She was gorgeous, brilliant, kind, and just wonderful. But he also knew that he could never live with himself if he fucked up their friendship by giving into his attraction to her, and it not going well. She was the most important person in his life. It was something that the various women who he had tried to have romantic relationships with hadn't taken kindly to. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A knock on his door frame broke him from his circular thoughts. Susan Bones, one of the prosecutors in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement stood in his doorway. His brain flashed to the list, to the entries that Hermione had ticked off with the woman in front of him. He couldn't look her in the eye.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you have a minute?” Susan asked, stepping into his office.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. Sit.” He gestured to the chair in front of his desk and she took a seat, shutting the door behind her with a wave of her wand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The case is just about wrapped up. He pled out, life in Azkaban, so you won’t need you to testify.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He automatically relaxed. He wasn’t going to have to look into the eyes of that man who had hurt those kids ever again. His heart felt lighter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh. Good.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But he still couldn’t look at her fully. Imagining Hermione and wax, and toys, and—he shook his head to clear his thoughts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.” Susan tilted her head, regarding Harry with open curiosity. “What’s wrong with you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing. Nothing is wrong.” He shuffled the papers on his desk, still not making eye contact with Susan. He felt a flush making its way up his neck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then why do you have that look on your face? Did you finally ask Hermione out?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That made his head jerk up, his eyes going wide, startled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? No.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, that’s too bad. She’s been hung up on you forever, even when we were together.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He froze, and for a minute he could have sworn his heartbeat stuttered. “She’s been—what?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Susan nodded, a smirk playing at the corners of his lips as she leaned back in her seat. “Yeah, when we broke up, I was sure she was going to ask you out, but then you started dating that cousin of Fleur’s.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He could have been knocked over with a feather.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Susan. That was two years ago. Over two years ago.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nodded, looking down at her nails in an obviously calculated gesture, a wicked grin creeping across her face. “I can guarantee she’s still into you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What—how do you know that?” This must be what an out of body experience felt like, he thought distantly. His limbs felt both heavy and numb and his heart was racing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A woman knows. Besides, other than her brief fling with Draco, she hasn’t dated anyone since.” Her eyes were fixed on his face, and she was clearly amused at his ongoing crisis.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He ran a hand through his hair. “Why didn’t she say anything? Why are you saying something now?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Susan shrugged. “She probably didn’t say anything for the same reason you didn’t say anything. Both of you are so co-dependent that neither of you could imagine a life apart. And starting a romantic relationship would be risking that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Harry could only goggle at her, his mouth slightly open. It took a minute for his brain to catch up to their conversation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Circe Susan, are you a therapist or a prosecutor?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her smug smile was wide and her eyes glittered with amusement. “I moonlight. Besides, Hermione firecalled me in a tizzy this morning, frantic that you’d found her list.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His hand went over his mouth. “You know about her list?” He asked, his words muffled by his fingers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who do you think helped her make it? We might not have worked out as romantic partners, but we’re still very good friends.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dropping his hand from his mouth, he fisted it on his desk. “Susan, I—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Susan stood and brushed imaginary lint off of her skirt. “I expect you to run home and give that girl an offer she can’t refuse. I suggest easing her into it, because right now she thinks that you see her as a sister. I also expect a very expensive bottle of Ogden’s as thanks for giving you a heads up that she wants you to jump her bones.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>To say he was flabbergasted would be an understatement. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Susan gave him a smile he could only describe as devious and left his office with a skip in her step.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He slumped back into his chair. Could she be right? Could Hermione have actually held some sort of torch for him? Could she still?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He packed up his things, still shellshocked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Susan had made it seem like Hermione wanted him physically, but she hadn't said anything about emotionally. He couldn’t deny that the prospect of being with her, even if it was only physical, intrigued him. He’d found it hard to trust people after the war. Many of the people who wanted to be his friends were more interested in his fame or his money than who he actually was as a person. It made him cling more tightly to his old friends, Hermione most of all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It took him until he reached the front door to 12 Grimmauld Place for him to realize he didn’t have a plan.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He squared his shoulders, calm coming over him. Well, that was appropriate. He never had a plan.</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hermione was in the library when she heard the front door open.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She frowned, looking up at the clock. It was early, hours earlier than Harry normally came home.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hermione?” He called from the entryway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Library,” she replied, setting aside her research materials. A low level of nervousness began knotting itself in her gut. Harry never came home early unless something was really wrong.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” he said, coming into the library and throwing himself in on the sofa close to where she stood. She sat down next to him out of habit, her eyes examining his face for pain or sadness.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why are you home early?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He gave her a crooked smile that eased the knot of tension inside her gut just slightly. “Can’t a bloke get off work at a reasonable time without an inquisition.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sat down next to him, eyes still stuck on his face. His eyes were brighter, or maybe he was holding his mouth differently, there was something about the look on his face that was entirely foreign to her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, it’s just that the last time you came home early it was because someone had cursed you in the back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He threw a careless arm over the back of the sofa, the tips of his fingers just barely brushing her shoulder. She ruthlessly suppressed a shiver. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, nothing like that, don’t worry.” His expression was still foreign to her, but also oddly familiar. There was something primal about it that made goosebumps creep across her skin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She tilted her body away ever so slightly, but couldn’t escape his touch. “I always worry, Harry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I do have a proposition for you though.” The stroking of his fingers was deliberate, it had to be, the way he was ghosting up and down the sensitive curve of her neck. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A proposition? Sounds formal.” She did her best to keep a relaxed smile on her face, but her voice came out breathier than usual.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t mean it to be. It’s a fun proposal.” By contrast, Harry’s voice sounded lower than usual.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She twisted again to be able to look Harry full in the face, and finally out of the reach of his fingers which were driving her mad. “A fun proposal? Okay, hit me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I noticed on the list—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her blush tore across her face, hot across the skin of her cheeks. “Jesus Christ, Harry, I thought you were done teasing me about the list.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He held up his hands in a placating gesture. “I am done teasing, I assure you, I’m entirely serious here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Serious about what?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The shift Harry made, closer to her, bringing her back in his reach, didn’t escape her notice. “Well, I saw on the list that the last thing you had checked off had been over a year ago. And I know how much you work, how busy you are. So I was wondering if you’d like me to help you check off some of those things on your list.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her heart stuttered. “Help me how?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Help you, help you,” he walked his fingers up her arm, pausing over her pulse point which was beating hummingbird-rapid.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This was—this was not what she expected. Her brain tried to race to catch up with the situation, but it felt like trying to run in the sand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But—friends Harry, we’re friends.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He nodded, smoothing his palm up her shoulder, letting it come to rest on her neck. “Best friends. Yes. But I nearly rubbed myself raw last Christmas after I saw you naked in the bath. You know me better than anyone. I want this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hermione’s jaw dropped and heat like wild-fire raced through her veins.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You want to help me complete my list? You want to have sex with me.” She drew out the words, doing her best to enunciate each one. She needed this spelled out for her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hungry. She suddenly could identify that mysterious expression on Harry's face. He was a ravenous predatory. And she was prey.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes. And I think you want it too.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>un-beta'd, we die like men.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hermione blinked once, twice, then a third time, her face oddly blank.</p><p>Harry had the strange sensation of being able to feel his blood pulse through his body, and her heartbeat matched his as it pulsed under his palm through the thin skin of her neck.</p><p>“You’re proposing sex.” Her voice had little affect, and he did his best to keep his confidence about him.</p><p>“Yes, I think we’ve been over this. The fun proposal I’m offering you is that we have sex. Kinky, rough sex if we adhere to the spirit of your list, it seems. Though, some of the items will have to be done gently, at least at first.” He ended his sentence with a grin he hoped was sexy, but internally he had begun to freak out. This was not the reaction he had in mind. He had hoped that she would jump his bones and by this time he would have his head between her legs, or at least his hand up her top.</p><p>“You want to have sex with me.”</p><p>Harry’s hand on her throat tensed slightly, not tightening, just going stiff. Fuck, he had absolutely fucked this up. Maybe Susan had been wrong. He never learned his lesson about flying blind, and this time it had blown up in spectacular fashion.</p><p>“I was—” for the first time in this conversation, uncertainty crept into his voice, “—I was led to believe that you’d like to. With me that is.” Harry began to pull back his hand and a cold sweat broke out on his back. “But if I’ve just fucked—” </p><p>“No!” Hermione cut him off, her hand wrapping around his wrist, holding his palm against her throat.</p><p>His brow furrowed in confusion and he held his breath, willing himself to stay silent and give her the space to process. He should have known better to accost her with this. Hermione liked to plan and think things through. Maybe he should have written her a letter, given her some sort of book to accompany it.</p><p>She swallowed hard and he felt the movement under his palm. It made something warm and protective twist in his gut. He wanted to take that slightly lost look in her eyes away. Her nose was scrunched; it was the look she got when she was trying to process a difficult research question.</p><p>After a few seconds of silence, she jerked her head in a slight nod.</p><p>“I would—I mean, yes, okay, I’d like to.”</p><p>Harry did his best to tamp down elation at her acceptance. His concerns about this came flooding back in the same minute. Hermione was a people pleaser, what if she—his mouth went running off without much thought on his part. </p><p>“I don’t want to force you into this, Our friendship is the most important thing to me in my life, I couldn’t bear to fuck it up.” The words butted up against each other with the speed in which Harry tried to get them all out.</p><p>“Don’t let Ron hear you say that.” She tried to say it with a smile, but her joke sounded weak and her voice was soft.</p><p>Harry pressed his lips together in disapproval. “You kept me alive and sane through school and the war. You saved my ass more times than I can count after. Don’t do that, don’t undermine what we have, our friendship, I mean.”</p><p>She gave her head a brief shake, a small smile playing at the corners of her plush mouth. How had he never spent that much time looking at her mouth. It was a really nice mouth.</p><p>“No, I know. But, I mean, I don’t think that sex will wreck our friendship. We’re both mature adults.” Her response was no nonsense and the familiar tone made him grin.</p><p>“But you want this?” He wanted her to say yes, needed her to, because the hotly speculative look in her eyes and her small hand wrapped around his wrist were wreaking havoc on his heart. And on his cock.</p><p>Her tongue darted out to wet her lips and his gaze followed the movement with avid interest. “Yes, I mean, I think that would be agreeable.”</p><p>Eyebrows shooting up, Harry did his best to aim for nonchalance. “Agreeable? I’m offering to shag your brains out. I would hope for more enthusiasm than simply agreeable.”</p><p>“Fine,” she shut her eyes, and his heart twisted a little because it looked like she was doing her best to gather her courage around her. She opened them and again, the look in them was steely in both a familiar but entirely new way. “I’d like it very much if you helped me cross some items off of my list.” </p><p>She hesitated, her tongue darting out to wet her lips again. “In fact, I’ve been wet since you first mentioned it.”</p><p>Harry was slightly concerned he had swallowed his tongue.</p><p>“You’re—” he rocked back slightly on his heels and brought his free hand to his mouth in shock.</p><p>A grin tinged with a wicked sense of feminine satisfaction warmed her face, but the smugness was undermined by how rosy her cheeks were. She leaned into his touch more.</p><p>“My knickers are a mess.” Her voice was still soft, but it had lost that vulnerable edge that had made him want to shelter her from whatever storm she saw coming. “When you offered I imagined you—well, I remembered, actually—when I saw you. It was a couple of months after I moved in, you’d left your bedroom door open and I walked past it, and you were there, your hand was on your—uhm—on your cock, and you were hard—”</p><p>All the breath had left Harry’s lungs. There was no more air in the room. He remembered the night she was talking about. He’d had slightly too much to drink out with the boys and after several disasters at the pub, he’d gone home and to bed horny, and lonely, and thinking about how the women who would flirt with him weren’t what he was looking for. </p><p>He’d taken himself in hand, thinking about some imaginary woman, one who was hot and adventurous in bed, flexible. Someone who wasn’t into him because he was The Boy Who Lived or whatever. Someone who just thought he was hot and wanted his cock. </p><p>He’d been hard and his fist had been tight on his cock as he stroked himself, thinking about that woman, someone who wanted him because he was Harry and not <em> Harry Potter </em>. That nameless, faceless woman would bend over and take it from behind, he’d pound into her and she’d take it and love it, his hand going to her ass. He’d been close. </p><p>He’d heard a noise at his door and seen a flash of curly hair. He’d come explosively, Hermione’s pretty face flashing in his head as his orgasm bucked through him. When he had opened his eyes again, his door frame had been empty and there’d been no noises outside. At the time he’d brushed it off as his imagination. He’d also ignored the fact that the idea that Hermione had been with him had been what had set him off. He’d been drunk. He’d been tired. Of course his best friend hadn’t made him come like that.</p><p>But apparently it had been real.</p><p>Very real.</p><p>Her bright eyes caught his, but her cheeks were still pink.</p><p>“It was—it was so hot. I’d like to see that again. That’s on my list.x” </p><p>All the air came back to him, and suddenly it was too much and there was too much air to breathe.</p><p>“So I think I’d like to start with watching you—watching you touch yourself. And then, maybe I could—” she paused, blinking hard again, “—I could maybe go down on you.”</p><p>His hand that had been at his mouth left his face and then he brought it to hers, brushing the backs of his knuckles against her pink cheeks, making sure to be as gentle as he could be. How was she so precious? And so sexy? At the exact same time?</p><p>“Are you sure?” He kept his voice to a whisper, asking once more because he had to be sure, he had to make sure that she wasn’t just doing this because she felt he had to.</p><p>“Harry. I am sure.” The certainty in her voice stilled something in him, and the fire in her eyes made his own blood heat.</p><p>“Then get on your knees.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Harry’s firm command ricocheted through Hermione’s body like a shot. </p><p>She’d never been more turned on in her life.</p><p>She’d also never been more scared. The torch she’d carried for Harry for more than a decade at this point blazed with renewed light. She had thought that she’d managed to put that out, only allowing it the littlest bit of oxygen when she was drunk and Susan had coaxed those long suppressed feelings out of her. Feelings about her childhood best friend and how sometimes her heart clenched when she was around him, how sometimes an overwhelming yearning tore through her and she wanted to reach for him, kiss him, hold him, but never did.</p><p>Her core clenched and her knees went weak, making her descent to the floor quicker than she intended. She never even thought once about disobeying.</p><p>From the way Harry’s eyebrows shot up, she could tell that her immediate obedience surprised him, and his hands fell away as she made her way to the ground. She settled on her knees and looked up at him. His pupils were blown wide with lust and he had started breathing heavy, like he was running a race. </p><p>Her clit throbbed in time with her heartbeat, and her nipples ached, they were so hard. </p><p>Bringing her hands to his trousers, she undid his belt with shaking fingers. If Harry noticed, he didn’t say anything, instead keeping silent as his eyes burned into hers. </p><p>The intensity in the air was electric, and all she wanted was for him to pounce. But instead, all of his muscles were held tightly and his fists had clenched at his sides. If it were not for the hungry expression on his face, she would be second guessing herself.</p><p>He reached out a hand again, his fingertips leaving trails of sparks across the tops of her cheeks, and then feathering over her lips. </p><p>Darting her tongue out, she caught the pad of his thumb. He paused and then pushed his thumb into her mouth. She took it in without complaint, her teeth scraping slightly as she moved her tongue against his thumb like she would soon move it against his cock.</p><p>Or at least that’s what she was hoping.</p><p>His trousers were undone quickly and she paused there, slightly unsure.</p><p>Taking his thumb out of her mouth, Harry’s hand went to take his cock out. His cheeks were ruddy, and Hermione was sure it couldn’t be embarrassment, because Harry had absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about. He was thick and long, and her mouth watered at the sight of him.</p><p>Normally, she was indifferent about blowjobs, but she had read some titillating scenes in a romance novel that Lavender had insisted she read, hence why there had been certain entries to her list. Like deepthroating, and choking on a man’s cock.</p><p>His hand glided up and down his length and she was unable to tear her eyes away from the sight. It was beautiful, which was a weird thing to think about a man stroking his cock, but there it was.</p><p>Swallowing down hard she tilted her head slightly to get a better look at her oldest friend jack off.</p><p>“Unbutton your top.”</p><p>Harry’s voice was hoarse, and her eyes closed with the force behind it.</p><p>Fingers going to the buttons on her shirt, she undid them quickly, exposing her plain cotton bra. Had she known that this, <em> this </em>, was going to happen, she would have changed into one of the nicer sets that she had stashed away at the bottom of her drawer for special occasions. Because this was certainly a special occasion.</p><p>She opened her eyes in time to watch Harry’s thumb, the one still slick with her saliva, swipe across the head of his cock.</p><p>“So here is one thing off of your list.”</p><p>The silence of the room was only obvious when Harry broke it. She jerked her head up from watching his cock to his face.</p><p>Letting out a shaky exhale, she nodded. “So I’m watching you touch yourself.”</p><p>“Ready for another?” He asked, his tone like gravel.</p><p>She’d been friends with him when he was a boy, when his voice broke, when they were at war, but somehow she’d never heard this tone of his before.</p><p>She nodded again. Maybe it was latent shock that was keeping her so quiet, but she couldn’t being herself to break whatever spell Harry held over her.</p><p>He took half a shuffling step closer to her, and the tip of his cock touched her lips.</p><p>“Take it.”</p><p>She took it.</p><p>The taste of him was foreign, but familiar. He tasted like man and salt and skin, but it was better than it had been in the past. One of his hands laced in her hair, the other ran a path around where her lips stretched wide around him.</p><p>Her gag reflex definitely still existed, and while she knew that spells existed that would remove it, she didn’t want to use them.</p><p>He pushed in deeper and she let him, welcoming it. </p><p>“How deep can you take me?” Harry asked. But Hermione assumed it was a rhetorical question, because with his cock in her mouth, she was unable to answer.</p><p>She was on the verge of gagging when he pulled out. She leaned back on her haunches and did her best to give him a disapproving glare, but given that she was on her knees in front of him, her shirt hanging open, the taste of him still on her lips, she didn’t think that it was a successful look.</p><p>“I believe what was on my list was choking on your cock and deepthroating you.”</p><p>The corner of Harry’s mouth ticked up. Without a word he leaned forward, his hand that was still laced in her hair dragging her in closer.</p><p>Welcoming him again into her mouth, she tried to take him in further this time.</p><p>She was successful. But this time when she started to gag, he didn’t pull back. Tears came to her eyes and it was an uncomfortable feeling, but it also made her center throb with longing and she shifted on her knees, trying to relieve that ache.</p><p>After a second Harry pulled back, and she coughed slightly, her hand going to wipe the saliva on her chin.</p><p>Harry used the hand not in her hair to tilt her head up, catching her eyes.</p><p>“Okay?” He asked, a searching expression on his face.</p><p>“More than.” She said quietly. When she had put those things on her list she had been mostly existing in fantasy. But the reality of it. Wow. It was. Wow.</p><p>“Again?” He asked, his thumb gentle on the curve of her jaw.</p><p>Instead of answering she leaned in, and he obliged, pushing back into her, more aggression in his movement this time.</p><p>He started to fuck her mouth. There was no other word for it really. But it was wonderful and she was wet from it. She brought her hand between her legs and moved her hips, trying to find friction that might give her release.</p><p>“Fuck, Hermione, you're such a good girl, aren't you?” he ground out, his fingers curling more tightly in her hair.</p><p>The tug and the words sent a thrill down her spine and she leaned in further to try to take him deeper.</p><p>He used his hand in her hair to pull her back, and she went reluctantly.</p><p>“I’m not going to come in your mouth.” Harry was flatteringly out of breath and she smiled reflexively. She had done that to him.</p><p>He reached down and practically lifted her up.</p><p>“I’m going to spank you and then bend you over and fuck you on my bed.”</p><p>“Yes. Yes, that sounds good.” Her voice came out rough, and once she was on her feet, Harry pulled her face to hers and kissed her.</p><p>She had kissed Harry before. There had been drunken dares, especially in those months that directly followed the war when everyone had been trying to fill the hollow parts of themselves with parties and booze. There had been two games of spin the bottle when they were both so blitzed that she wasn’t sure Harry even remembered and that she barely did. Those kisses had been okay, his mouth had tasted like liquor and his lips had been soft. There had maybe been a spark of something, but she was with Ron, Harry was with Ginny, and it was just a silly game with friends.</p><p>But this was entirely different. His taste was on her tongue as he coaxed her mouth open with his. His kiss was a jolt to her system, and everything that she was focused on him, on his lips on hers. </p><p>Fuck.</p><p>It was the best kiss she’d ever had.</p><p>She wrapped her arms around his neck and he pulled her in closer.</p><p>“Hermione,” his voice caught and he kissed her again, not finishing his sentence.</p><p>Instead, he side-along apparated her to his bedroom while still kissing her.</p><p>They lost their footing and collapsed on his bed, still locked together.</p><p>“Fuck, Harry,” she breathed out, pulling back.</p><p>He ground his hips against her, forcing a whimper from between her lips.</p><p>“I can’t wait.” He said from behind a clenched jaw.</p><p>She nodded vigorously. She couldn’t wait either. He could spank her later. She was going to go crazy if he didn’t fuck her right this instant.</p><p>She fumbled in the pocket of her skirt and drew out her wand. With a few flicks they were both naked and Harry leaned down to take one pebbled nipple between his lips, alternatively nipping with sharp teeth and then soothing with his tongue. The contrast was delicious and she moaned, arching her back to push her breasts more firmly into his face.</p><p>Harry maneuvered her underneath him so that their hips were aligned, and he rutted against her, the tip of his cock pressing against her clit. She rocked her hips, encouraging this action and he laughed roughly, pulling back slightly.</p><p>Then looking straight into her eyes, he took his cock in his hands and pressed himself into her.</p><p>Fuck. </p><p>It was in that instant she knew that this was going to ruin their friendship.</p><p>That torch she’d been carrying was a bonfire. If he tried to pull this away from her, if he tried to make this just a fling, just a causal thing to cross items off of that stupid list, it would break her.</p><p>That thought was fleeting though, because then he was all the way inside of her, stretching her with a burn just this side of pleasant. He gave her a second to acclimate and then he pulled back, his cock dragging against her walls in a way that made her close her eyes reflexively.</p><p>“I couldn't wait.” Harry said. She opened her eyes, expecting to see him focused on where they were joined. But instead he was looking right into her eyes. His expression earnest and surprisingly open.</p><p>“Next time,” he thrust back into her, “next time I’ll spank you and restrain you, and whatever else you want to cross off of that list of yours.”</p><p>His thumb went to her clit and he circled it. She was already so close, that in no time at all, she was going off like a firework on bonfire night.</p><p>“That’s it,” he urged, speeding up his pace.</p><p>She wrapped her legs around his waist, drawing him in closer.</p><p>He went down so that their chests were flush, his face so close to hers that she could see the flocks of hazel in his vivid green eyes, and could count his surprisingly long black eyelashes.</p><p>“Hermione,” he groaned. Then he kissed her, his hand going back between them to work at her clit again.</p><p>This wasn’t fucking, not anymore. Not when she could feel his heartbeat against hers, not when he pulled back from their kiss and gazed down at her like she was something special, something precious.</p><p>“Harry.” Her voice was weak, and she was unable to say anything else.</p><p>“You’re going to give me another.” His tone was gentle but demanding and she nodded in agreement.</p><p>His finger worked more insistently at her clit and within a few moments she felt herself cresting that peak again, convulsing around him.  His eyes connected with hers and her chest got tight and she found it hard to breath. He grunted and his thrusts became more rough and sloppy, and after a couple, she felt him spend himself inside of her, his eyes still holding her in place, connecting her to him.</p><p>His rough breaths matched hers.</p><p>He broke their gazes and collapsed on her, still inside of her, making her take most of his weight. She squeezed her legs and arms around him, not wanting him to pull back, not wanting to have to deal with the realization that she’d had mid-coitus.</p><p>“Hermione.” Harry paused and she felt her heart stutter.</p><p>Was he going to say that this had been a mistake, that he’d felt like she had, that he knew that they’d just absolutely trashed their friendship in under an hour, that her feelings for him were much too deep, much too serious?</p><p>She remained silent.</p><p>“We’re doing that again.” He said.</p><p>She choked out a slightly hysterical laugh, turning her head into his neck.</p><p>He moved, pulling out of her, but still on her so she was unable to effectuate any sort of escape.</p><p>“We’re doing that again.” He repeated. “A lot more.”</p><p>She took a breath that she had hoped would steady her, but it didn’t.</p><p>“Harry,” she began, unable to keep the tremulous note out of her voice.</p><p>He shifted, turning them both so she was on top of him. One of his hands going to cup the back of her head, the other starting a slow path up and down her naked back.</p><p>“Hermione, what is it?” </p><p>This was the problem with hooking up with her oldest and best friend. He could read her like a an open children’s book. She couldn’t keep anything from him.</p><p>“I can’t”</p><p>She said it softly, almost hoping he wouldn’t hear her.</p><p>“What do you mean?” His voice was almost as soft.</p><p>Her head was still tucked against his throat and she shook her head slightly.</p><p>“We fucked up.”</p><p>He stilled, but just for a second, and then his hand resumed its slow trail up and down her spine.</p><p>“No. We had fantastic sex. We did not fuck up.”</p><p>She shook her head again, the motion allowing her to burrow deeper against him.</p><p>“We did fuck up. I can’t be that sort of friend, the one who hooks up with you and then goes about and pretends that nothing has changed.”</p><p>Harry stilled for longer this time, but didn’t draw back.</p><p>She shut her eyes closed so tightly that starbursts appeared behind her lids.</p><p>“We don’t have to pretend that nothing has happened,” he finally said after what felt like several minutes of the most painful silence she could remember. He stoked up and down her back.</p><p>She remained quiet and bit her lip.  Something that wasn’t dread began pooling in her stomach, making her want to pull back and run.</p><p>After another minute, Harry spoke again.</p><p>“Susan said that you were hung up on me.”</p><p>It was her who stilled this time. Harry continued to touch her, but she felt like she couldn't breathe.</p><p>“She didn’t just mean sexually, did she.”</p><p>Every muscle in her body locked.</p><p>“I don’t—” she stopped pressing her lips together so tightly that it hurt.</p><p>“She meant really hung up, didn’t she?”</p><p>Hermione couldn’t help it, her body shuddered away from his touch in an involuntary move to protect her heart, one that was coming much to late, as it were.</p><p>He didn’t let her go though, he kept her held to him and his hand running up and down her back.</p><p>“I’ve been blind."</p><p>He said it without inflection and she wanted to pull back to look at his face, to get some sort of clue about what was going on in his head, but he wouldn’t let her.</p><p>Given her position, all she managed was a slightly muffled “What?”</p><p>“I’ve been blind,” he said again. This time he used the hand in her hair to draw her away from his neck so that she was looking in his face. His eyes were tender, and there was a familiar self deprecating grin on his face.</p><p>“Still got the emotional range of a teaspoon, haven’t I?” he asked, and then leaned in to press a kiss to the corner of her mouth.</p><p>Her eyes went wide as they darted around his face. What was he actually saying? What did this mean?</p><p>The questions were killing her, so she just asked.</p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p>“I mean that I should have seen that my best friend, the woman who I tell everything, who is also unbelievably fit, and funny, and whip smart, the woman who I love more than anything, was it.”</p><p>Hermione blinked once, then again.</p><p>“What? It?” She was proud that the word came out. She was not proud of how shrill it sounded.</p><p>What the fuck. Was he saying that one fuck and boom, that was it? Years of not really seeing her, years of her suppressing a crush, years of trying to make it work with other people, poof, that was it? Was he saying that she could have avoided years of angst by just throwing a leg over and going to town on him?</p><p>“I’m saying,” Harry said slowly, drawing out each word, “that Susan was right, if you’re really hung up on me, that if you want things to change in the same way I want things to change, that if when we kissed your world also shifted, then I am here, I am fully on board.”</p><p>“On board for what exactly?” With her head swimming, Hermione needed real and concrete terms. She was in no position to deal with any ambiguity in this moment.</p><p>“Do you want to date me?” Harry asked, and them immediately worried his lip, the vulnerability seeping into his gaze.</p><p>“Yes.” She didn’t have to think about her answer, and the sweetest sort of relief rushed through her body.</p><p>“Good.” Harry’s hand, which had paused when she pulled back, resumed its leisurely path along her back.</p><p>She collapsed back against him, her head going back to his neck, the emotion of the moment too much. She didn't go down fast enough to miss the joyful smile that broke across Harry’s face.</p><p>Hermione huffed out a laugh.</p><p>“Good?”</p><p>“Yes. Good. I’m looking forward to crossing everything off of your list. And then making another one and getting to work on that one. But this time it will be my name next to every check mark.”</p><p>She pressed a kiss to his collarbone, settling against him more fully.</p><p>“Okay,” she sighed out, “good.”</p><p>They fell asleep tangled together.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you for your patience everyone! This ended up going slightly differently than I had planned, but that is what happens when you go from just having a story in your head, to putting it on paper.</p><p>This was a delight to finish, and I am hoping that now that I'm settling into my new everything, I'll have more time to write and finish all my WIPs.</p><p>Happy New Years!</p><p>(Also thank you so much for all the supportive comments, I can't tell you how much them mean and they help encourage me to keep writing!)</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Updates to this will come sporadically, but it will be finished by the end of October (given my IRL commitments). </p><p>This is so delightful to write, thank you so much to Harmony &amp; Co for putting this fest on!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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